Nicholas e



(No Model.)

N. RAPPLEYEA.

BURIAL GASKET.

' Patented Jan. '6, 1885.

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

NICHOLAS RAPPLEYEA, OF ROCHESTER, NEV YORK.

BURlAL-CASKET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 810,223, dated January 6, 1885.

Application filed August 21, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NICHOLAS RAPPLEYEA, of Rochester, Monroe county, New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Burial-Caskets; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a bottom view of the lid. Fig. 2 is a top view of the casket or receptacle. Fig. 3 is alongitudinal section, on an enlarged scale, of one of the fastenings that constitute my invention. Fig. 4 is a plan of the socket.

My improvement relates to concealed fastenings for cloth-covered caskets; and it consists in the combination of round-headed studs en the under side of the lid, and slotted sockets set into the top edges of the casket, said socket having a swiveled screw, by which it can be adjusted up and down to exact position, and securely held at any adjustment, as hereinafter described.

In the drawings, A shows the lid, and B the casket or receptacle. both covered with cloth in the usual manner.

0 O are studs attached to the under side of the lid, near the edges, and provided with round heads a a. By reason of being round they will slide on the cloth covering the top edges of the casket without catching or tearing the cloth, and they therefore overcome the great difficulty experienced where hooks or tongues are used, which, being more or less pointed, are always catching into and tearing the cloth.

D D are sockets set into the top edges of the casket in positions corresponding to the studs on the under side of the lid. These sockets are of cylindrical form, being preferably cut from a length of tube of proper size. One end of the socket is cut off at an angle, and the socket is set into the wood in an inclined direction, so that when in place the bevel at the end comes level with the top surface of the wood. In the top of the socket, and next to the bevel, a rectangular slot, 0, is cut, of sufficient width to receive the neck 12 of the stud, while the head a of the stud passes into the hollow of the tube below, and is prevented from rising by reason of the walls of the slot holding over it.

E is a screw having two heads or shoulders, d d, which embrace a small inwardlyturned flange, f, of the lower end of the socket, but allow the socket to turn freely. The shank of the screw projects below the socket, so that it can be turned into the wood by simply inserting a screw-driver down into the socket. The advantage of this arrangement is that the socket cannot only be driven down into the wood by turning the screw forward, but it can also be drawn back to level it with the top of the casket by turning the screw back, and when fitted to the proper adjustment the socket becomes a fixture and cannot get accidentally displaced.

In order to get the studs to properly engage with all the sockets at once, it is necessary to get a nice adjustment of the latter and then hold them in a fixed position, otherwise the lid will not engage.

It has heretofore been the practice to simply insert a common wood-screw in the lower end of the socket, which is effective to drive the socket down, but cannot draw it back; but in order to retract the socket to adjust the position the screw has to be turned back, and the sockethas then to be drawn back by pinchers or other means, and must hold its place simply by friction in the wood, which is very uncertain. 13y swiveling the screw, as before described, all these difficulties are obviated.

A catch of any suitable kind is used at one end of the casket to lock thelidin place against end movement and prevent the disengagement of the fasteuings.

In moving in and out of the socket the head of the stud substantially fills the hollow of the socket. In drawing the fastening back the knob does not free from the slot till the full back movement is made. The action is there fore more uniform than where a hook simply engages with the end of the socket.

Having described my inventionpvhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

1 In a burial-casket, the socket D, beveled at its top and provided with a screw swiveled into the lower end of the socket, and provided with shoulders that will move the socket both forward and back as the screwis turned in opposite directions, as set forth.

the lid, and sockets provided with slots in the 2'. In a buriaLmsket, the combination of In witness whereof I have hereunto signed studs provided with round heads, attached to my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. upper edge, and with screws swiveled to the N. RAPPLEYEA. lower end, resting in the edges of the casket, \Vitnesses: as shown and described, and for the purpose R. F. OsGOOD, specified.

POMEROY P. DIoKINsoN. 

